Books, Bulgarian Bonbons, and Basilisk Fangs
by AudreyA23
Summary: A series of Ron/Hermione missing moments through out the Harry Potter Series. Told through Hermione's point of view. T rating subject to change in future chapters. WRITERS BLOCK. TEMPORARILY POSTPONED. SORRY. :
1. Chapter 1: First Impressions

Year one: First Impressions

"Now remember dear, if at any point you feel like you need to come home, you write to us straight away." Mrs. Granger fussed even more with her daughter's jumper, straighten it up for what seemed to young Hermione Granger like the millionth time.

"Mum! I already said I would. I'll be fine, really." She gave what she hoped was a convincing smile to her mother. Inside though, her insides where turning on themselves. She was absolutely terrified. What if nobody liked her? What if she didn't make any friends? What if she arrived at this magical school and realised she couldn't do magic at all? If the people at Hogwarts had made a mistake?

She looked up at her father with unsure eyes. They had this talk the night before. She couldn't confide in her mum the doubts she had about her new school. Mrs. Granger was only all too eager to look for an excuse to decide that Hogwarts was a bad idea.

While her mother took in the sight of the Hogwarts Express and platform 9 ¾, Mr. Granger knelt down beside Hermione.

"You alright darling?"

"What if I'm really not a witch, daddy?"

"Well that's just impossible. Remember what Professor McGonagall said when she came to visit? You have been enrolled in Hogwarts since the day you were born."

Hermione nodded, remembering all too well the visit by the Hogwarts professor. The one where she calmly explained to her dentist parents that magic was real, that there was a special school for witches and wizards and that their 11-year-old daughter was a witch that had a place reserved in this special school. Hermione had never been special. If anything she had been beyond ordinary. Invisible, almost, never special.

"What if I'm not as good at magic as the other students? I mean, they've all come from living their whole lives with magic. They probably know loads of spells already! Oh, I'm going to be so far behind in my school work! What if they expel me because I fail everything?"

"Now, Hermione", her father began, "You are absolutely brilliant. You spent all summer reading your text books. Witch or not, you have always been top of your class, isn't that so?"

"I suppose. But everything will be different at this new school."

"You won't be. As long as you work hard you can accomplish anything."

She smiled at her dad then, but was distracted by a parade of red headed children that where about to board the train while being followed by a yelling woman.

"Ginny, where are you going? I told you to stay close to me!...Fred, George! Leave your brother alone!...Percy, dear, don't forget your wand!...Oh! And keep an eye on Ron, Percy!"

Hermione watched as the older boy, already wearing his school robes, took his wand from the woman, probably his mother, and quickly stepped into the train. Then a pair of boys, twins, ran towards the door, playfully competing to get in first. Only the youngest of the four stayed behind while his mother smoothed out his hair, kissed him on the cheek and adjusted his jumper. _What was it with mothers fussing over their children's clothes?_ Thought Hermione.

The train gave a loud hoot which made Hermione jump, bringing her to the realization that it was time to leave her parents. Her mother reappeared suddenly took her into a hug and half in tears said,

"Please be safe Hermione. If there's anything you need, call us straight away. I'm sure these people have telephones somewhere! Oh, I love you sweetheart."

"I will mum, I love you too."

"You will do great at Hogwarts, Hermione. Have fun, ok?" Her dad, always all smiles gave her a giant hug and a kiss on the head. "We love you."

She sat in one of the compartments to the end of the train. Everywhere else had been too full. Or rather, too full of older students. She quickly realised everyone tended to sit within their own year. The only down side to that was that the cart with first years was noisy and crowded and barely left her own thoughts audible. She heard the compartment door slide open and she was tempted to roll her eyes but controlled her annoyance. She wanted to make friends. She didn't want to be as alone as she was at her old school. She needed to be friendlier. Not that she wasn't of course. She was just shy. And wary of her peers. People at her old school had never exactly been nice to her…or even decent for that matter. She put a smile on and turned to see who had walked in. It was a boy. Short and shy looking and holding a toad. He looked as out of place and nervous as she felt. Of course, she would never let herself show it.

"Hello." She tried to sound confident. Like the many times she practiced in her mirror in the weeks before this day. "Would you like to sit down?" The boy simply nodded and took a seat. It seemed she was going to have to do all the talking. She at least was glad to know she wasn't the only shy one.

"I'm Hermione Granger. What's your name?"

"N-Ne-Neville Longbottom."

"Pleased to meet you." Neville just nodded and resolved to look out the window.

"Is this your first year at Hogwarts?" Another nod. Hermione sighed. This making friends thing might prove more difficult than she expected.

Stupid boy, she thought as she ate her pudding. He probably thinks he's so cool because he's sitting there, with all his older brothers, one of which is a prefect _and_ he's friends with Harry Potter. She didn't even understand why he was so angry at her anyway. All she'd said was that he had dirt on his nose. Well, he should have thanked her for not letting him sit in front of the entire school with dirt on his face! But of course, he gets offended! And if he thinks she didn't see that eye-roll when she got sorted into Gryffindor, he's wrong! He had rolled his eyes and said something to Harry Potter. At first, her first though had been, _let's see if __**you **__get sorted into Gryffindor, then! _But of course, much to Hermione's horror, he had been.

He was glaring at her again. Well, fine then. There. She glared back at him. Leave it to this stupid, annoying boy to nearly ruin her first night at Hogwarts. Well, she just wouldn't let him get to her. She knew this type of boy all too well. Right now it was glares but soon he'd start with the name-calling. Making fun of her hair, her teeth, everything she does or says. Oh, how could she let this happen? It hasn't even been one whole day and already she's found someone that will tease her. If this had been London and her old school, she would have been in the loo right at this moment, crying. But she was at Hogwarts now. And she was determined NOT to spend anymore time hiding in the toilets because people were mean to her. She would just have to find the courage to ignore boys like Ronald Weasley.


	2. Chapter 2: Books and Birthdays

**Thank you so much for the reviews everyone! I didn't expect anyone to actually read it, let alone like it. I'm so terribly sorry about the wait but my computer officially died on me and all the chapters I had written were deleted so I basically have to start from nothing. Also, I have been investing a lot of time giving life to a new story I came up with recently and that hopefully I will be sharing with you all soon.**

**In response to the comment that it shouldn't be an M rating, well, I did mention it was just to be safe and that it was a missing moments fic that went through the entire series, starting with Hermione's first year. There's not a lot of M rated things going on in the mind of an 11 (now 12) year old. Give it time…**

**About doing one in Ron's perspective: When I first began writing this I actually thought of doing alternate chapters giving them each a turn to narrate but then, I don't really know what happened; Hermione took over I guess. She is rather bossy. Perhaps in the future, if you all want some Ron in your lives (and who wouldn't?). Thank you for being patient with me and I promise the updates won't take as long from now on. Please give me a quick review and tell me what you think, also, if there are any scenes you would like to see, since I have so much to re-write now.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, Sirius would have been hiding in my house instead of a random cave in book 4. **

Year One: Books and Birthdays

Hermione wiped a tear from her face and pulled the covers up higher towards her face. It must be past midnight by now. She would officially be twelve years old. She didn't feel any different. If anything, everything was still, frustratingly, the same as always. Although she didn't honestly expect to be in Hogwarts for two weeks and have everything change. Then again, her roommates, Parvati and Lavender, had only just met as well and they were already the best of friends. And there was Hermione, lonely and ignored. Again. She had her school work; she was already at least two weeks ahead in all her assignments, and she had her books. Already the other students in her classes had been starting to mock her for always being the first one to raise her hand or the first to master a spell or a charm. She should have been proud of herself and how well she was doing, but she couldn't.

She sighed and felt the tears coming again. She didn't know what she had been thinking. That Hogwarts would be different, that's what. That the students would take the studying of magic seriously like she did. The truth was, however, that they didn't. Apart from the magic, this school was no different from her primary school in London. There was the boy everyone wanted to be friends with: Harry Potter. The boys that didn't care about schoolwork and always had something mean and sarcastic to say: Ronald Weasley. The boy who just seemed to enjoy making everybody in general miserable: Draco Malfoy. And then there were the girls who giggled at everything and spent more time on their hair than their assignments: Lavender and Parvati. How could she make friends with anyone at this school if everyone was so different from her?

Well, there was someone who seemed to take lessons as seriously as she did. She felt herself blush a little thinking about that particular boy. Oh, she was being ridiculous, he was much too old. She shouldn't even worry herself with such things. She sat up and pulled a package from underneath her bed; her parent's birthday gift. She was sure it was midnight already, so she decided to open it.

"_Lumos." _She whispered. She undid the purple ribbon and lifted the top of the box with one hand, holding her wand with the other. Inside she saw book, but when she opened the cover she realized it was not a book after all, it was a photo album. There was a single picture inside. It was of her and her parents at Kings Cross station the day she left for Hogwarts. She frowned at how unlike her mother she was. Mrs. Granger was beautiful and elegant. She had light brown eyes and shiny, straight blonde hair that reached past her shoulders and always seemed to do what she wanted it to. Hermione on the other hand, had her father's unruly dark brown hair that had a mind of its own. At least he was lucky to be a man. He could cut it short and no one would notice how wild it was, she thought. She smiled a little remembering her parents. She missed them so much. She missed her mother's cooking and the talks she would have with her father after dinner. Most of all, she missed being able to go to bed in her own room. She missed knowing that no matter how bad of a day she had there was always a place for her to come home to.

Suddenly, the room seemed too small, too dark and too unfamiliar to her. She missed her own home so much. Several times (several times _a day_, in fact) she considered asking Professor McGonagall if she could just go home. At the end, she never summoned the courage. Why was she in Gryffindor? Maybe the Sorting Hat should have just placed her in Ravenclaw like it wanted to at first.

Hermione pulled back the covers, took her album under her arm and climbed out of bed as she tried to imagine what the Ravenclaw students were like. She gave a small sigh as she realised that they were probably not that different from the students in her own house.

She tiptoed across the room and down the staircase until she reached the common room. She lit a fire and sat on the floor in front of it, simply staring off into the flames and trying to get herself to think of nothing at all. That was the problem with her, she thought. She could never just think of _nothing_. It was impossible. She was always thinking of something; her schoolwork, or her plans for the rest of the day, what she would say to her parents in her next letter or even that stupid Ronald Weasley who was always watching her during charms class just to see if she had managed a charm before he had. He was never too pleased with what he found.

She was startled out of her thoughts just as another very particular red headed boy walked in through the portrait hole and seemed just as surprised to see her there as she was to see him.

"Hermione" He said her name a little hesitantly, "What are you doing up?"

"What are you doing up?" She hadn't meant to sound so nosy and she blushed as soon as the words came out.

"I was er…patrolling the corridors. I am prefect you know." The moment's hesitation left it very clear to Hermione that even though Percy _was_ prefect the last thing he had been doing at this time of night were prefect rounds. She quickly looked straight into the fire again and decided that under no circumstances was she to look up at him. He had been snogging Penelope Clearwater. She knew it. She had caught them once already. Her face reddened as she remembered.

She hadn't meant to. She had seen him, after dinner a few nights before, walking to the back of the library. She still did not really want to admit to herself that the only reason she caught him with Penelope was because of her ridiculous crush on him. She felt a bit silly, him being so much older and smarter and a prefect; but he was rather handsome, and also the only other person who was interested in books and spent as much time in the library as she did.

That night, she had followed him in an attempt to restart a brief exchange they had during dinner. He had seen her reading _Hogwarts, A History _and suggested she read another book found in the library; one about the history of the different schools of magic around the world. She never did find out the name of the book. When she turned the corner into the aisle he had gone to, there they were…

She quickly tried to shake the awkward image out of her head. Especially the particularly uncomfortable seconds that followed when she had gasped and the couple had realised they were not alone. They quickly broke apart and just stared at her; Penelope without a clue as to who this child was and Percy reddening up to the tip of his ears.

"Is that a muggle photo?" She jumped a bit and remembered that he was still in the common room, hovering awkwardly and looking at the picture in her new album.

"Oh yes, I just got it. My parents sent me the album as well; as a birthday present."

He only nodded and looked curiously at the image of her family. "May I?"

She handed him the album and he studied it with fascination.

"Amazing. How do they get the picture to be still?"

"Well, I don't really know. I suppose my parents would wonder how wizards get their photos to move." She realised he hadn't actually asked her or expected an answer because he seemed to not have listened to her. She also could not ignore the fact that he had not wished her a happy birthday even though she had mentioned it. She felt stupid and embarrassed all of a sudden.

"I should head to bed." She stood up and he handed back the photo album and without another word she ran up the stairs to the girls dormitories.

The next morning, she found that Percy was nowhere in sight and that a package was waiting for her at the breakfast table. Upon opening the wrapping there was a book titled _A History of Magic: Top Academies of Magic_, and a letter:

_This is my own copy. I realise it is rather old but you can keep it if you'd like, I've read it so many times and still find it fascinating. _

_Happy Birthday, Hermione_

_-Percy I. Weasley_

The rest of the day was the most enjoyable Hermione Granger had had at Hogwarts yet. Even in potions, when she knew all the ingredients to brew a healing potion by memory and that stupid Ronald Weasley rolled his eyes at her, she could not bring herself to be annoyed with him. She even went the entire day without considering asking McGonagall to send her home.

**And there is the end of that ridiculously long chapter. (or perhaps it wasn't that long. It just took about a century for me to **_**write **_**it.) So our Hermione has a crush on Percy Weasley. I always thought it would be appropriate considering the fact that Percy looked like Ron and Bill (in other words, he was good-looking) and he was so much like Hermione in terms of academics. For those of you who are alarmed at this pairing, believe me, this is the first and probably last time Percy plays a significant role in Hermione's life. I just always thought Hermione must have had some sort of **_**life**_** before she met Harry and Ron. This chapter was a little different when I first wrote it but it has the same general idea so please tell me what you think. I wrote a good part of this at 2-4 in the morning so please forgive any grammatical errors. I tried my best to edit as I will my brain not to fall asleep. I ****apologise for all the brooding in the first half of the chapter but the other fic I'm writing is a lot darker (let's just say: Barty Crouch Jr is the main character) and it's hard to switch back to the light side of life according to a 12 year old. Don't forget to review and I promise my next update will be a lot sooner! **


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note: I want to apologise for the extremely long wait and thank you all so much for your kind reviews and your patience. I have two things (Well, technically three) I want to announce: _

_First, please excuse any mistakes I've made from the books in this and the previous chapters. I've decided that enough is enough and I am going to go dig out my Harry Potter books to write directly from the books so you can expect no more plot holes from chapter 4 on. Hurrah!_

_Second: This chapter will be the only year 2 chapter, so it will serve as a sort of short and –somewhat Random- introduction to the chapters of the later years where things get a lot more interesting for Ron and Hermione._

_Third, after much deliberation, I've changed the rating because frankly not a lot of M-rated things are going on and so until all that starts I'll just keep it at a T. _

_Anyway, here it is. Enjoy. Remember, JKR owns._

Year two:

"I can't believe she sleeps it with." Ron muttered to Harry, watching the back of Hermione's head stalk off ahead of them.

"I heard that, Ronald!" She scowled back and continued to walk faster.

Unbelievable! One night! She had been out of the hospital wing for one night and Ronald had already managed to anger her.

It had started at dinner; when she refused to eat anything because there was so much school work to catch up on. She was trying not to be annoyed with him. He was after all, just looking out for her.

"Oh come on Hermione, doesn't it look delicious? I know you're hungry." Ron waved a biscuit in front of her face, managing to drop crumbs on her book.

"No thank you, Ronald." She sighed and tried to remember what exactly she was reading. It was hard to concentrate on defensive spells when there was a red headed boy shoving food in your face every two minutes.

"What are you even working on now, anyway?"

She was becoming irritated and looked up to Harry for help; or at least to serve as distraction for Ron. No luck. His neck was craned, scanning the Slytherin table for Malfoy. She gave another exasperated sigh.

"Defence against the dark arts. We have an essay on disarming spells due soon, you know."

"Yeah I know. It's just not due for another week! Honestly Hermione you've got to relax!"

"Don't tell me to relax Ronald! Some of us care about our lessons."

"Or Lockhart, more like." He said this quietly, almost to himself but she managed to catch it. She looked up from her book.

"What?"

"Oh come on Hermione, you're only worried about what Lockhart's going to say about your essay. You're probably hoping he'll love it so much he'll send you another card you can put under your pillow."

Hermione narrowed her eyes and felt her cheeks burning bright red. She hoped it was with anger more than embarrassment. He hadn't mentioned Lockhart's card since the day he discovered it in the hospital but she should have known it would come up again. Ron never lets go of anything.

"Well so what if I do? What's it to you what I do?"

At this Ron seemed lost for words. He stared at her hard for a few seconds before settling on saying, "I don't care. But Lockhart's an idiot. I would think you of all people could figure that out instead of giggling around him all day. It's embarrassing for all of us, really. Like Ginny around Harry."

At his name, Harry seemed to have come back to the conversation only to find his two best friends glaring at each other for a reason that he somehow suspected had to do with Lockhart's infamous get-well card that seemed to make an appearance as a topic of conversation just about every night in their dormitory, always initiated by Ron.

Hermione rolled her eyes and slammed her book shut. She stood up and began shoving books in her bag. Dinner was nearly over anyway so she best be getting back to the common room to do some proper studying, preferably away from Ron.

"I heard that Ronald!"

She reached the portrait hole and muttered the password, wishing she had more control over doors in this castle, if only to make her exit a bit more dramatic with a slamming door and leaving Ronald on the other side. She heard Ron and Harry make their way in, a few steps behind her, and she settled in the table farthest from their usual seats. It was no use. Harry came and took the seat next to her which left Ron standing in front of her, rather stupidly, for a few seconds while he decided weather it was safe or not to sit.

Harry looked from Ron to Hermione awkwardly, knowing something was wrong but having completely missed their argument, he didn't know what to say. After a few minutes of small talk and trying to engage both of his friends in conversation he got up from his chair and announced he was going to bed. He took a few steps away from the table but noticed that he was alone. He'd given Ron a perfect opportunity to follow his lead and leave but his friend just continued to sit there while Hermione glared at him. Harry shook his head and headed off to the dormitories, sure they would be back to normal by the morning.

Hermione saw Ron look awkwardly down at his trousers, picking some lint off of them. He looked back up to her general direction but still refused to meet her gaze.

"What?" She demanded.

He shrugged and said, "Nothing."

Silence.

"Hermione..." She raised her gaze. "So, er...I might be going to Egypt this summer." He looked at her for a few seconds and then looked down again.

"How fascinating," She returned to her book. She knew she had sounded sarcastic but she'd actually meant it. She was tempted to ask him questions but remained silent for the sake of her ego.

"We're going to visit Bill. It won't be for the whole summer. We'll be back in time to go to Diagon Alley before term starts again." He kept rambling to the table. "Anyway, mum wanted to know if you'd like to stay over for a day or so."

She looked up at him, bewildered.

"Mum said you might want to, I don't know, go to the shops with Ginny and I. We could all get our supplies together."

"Stay over? At your house?" She had never really thought about Ron or Harry that way. She could never place them outside of the school. She knew they had homes obviously, but never that she might actually be in them. What would Ron's house look like? Would it be big, with white walls and not a cushion out of place like her home? Or warm and cosy and old like Hogwarts?

"Harry would come to, I reckon; if his aunt and uncle let him." Her annoyance towards Ron disappeared for a moment as she thought about spending a few days of the summer away from her parents and school, with her two best friends. She'd never been to Diagon Alley without her parents before; and honestly they weren't exactly the best people to explore the village with as they seemed genuinely terrified of a lot of things in the magical world. Ron's family would surely be more up to showing her around.

"Of course. I'll ask my parents. We're going on holiday to France but I'm sure we'll be back way before term starts."

"Alright, yeah..."

"I was thinking, you've got Scabbers, and Harry's got Hedwig. Perhaps when we go to Diagon Alley I can get a pet of my own."

He looked at her questioningly, "I thought you didn't like owls."

She smiled to herself and shook her head slightly in amazement at how easy it was to carry on like their previous argument hadn't just happened. Her friendship with Ron was like a pendulum that swung from one extreme to the other swiftly and easily, without ever really giving much time or attention to the middle ground. She didn't mind it, but she thanked god for Harry. She needed some balance in her life.

"I don't. And I didn't mean an owl, I was thinking something a bit cuter, like maybe a cat."

"Yeah," He rolled his eyes sarcastically, "I'm sure Scabbers would love that."

And just like that, not thirty minutes after they were glaring at each other across the dinner table, they were friends again.


End file.
